Association of light-to-moderate alcohol drinking in pregnancy with preterm birth and birth weight: elucidating bias by pooling data from nine European cohorts.

Women who drink light-to-moderately during pregnancy have been observed to have lower risk of unfavourable pregnancy outcomes than abstainers. This has been suggested to be a result of bias. In a pooled sample, including 193 747 live-born singletons from nine European cohorts, we examined the associations between light-to-moderate drinking and preterm birth, birth weight, and small-for-gestational age in term born children (term SGA). To address potential sources of bias, we compared the associations from the total sample with a sub-sample restricted to first-time pregnant women who conceived within six months of trying, and examined whether the associations varied across calendar time. In the total sample, drinking up to around six drinks per week as compared to abstaining was associated with lower risk of preterm birth, whereas no significant associations were found for birth weight or term SGA. Drinking six or more drinks per week was associated with lower birth weight and higher risk of term SGA, but no increased risk of preterm birth. The analyses restricted to women without reproductive experience revealed similar results. Before 2000 approximately half of pregnant women drank alcohol. This decreased to 39% in 2000-2004, and 14% in 2005-2011. Before 2000, every additional drink was associated with reduced mean birth weight, whereas in 2005-2011, the mean birth weight increased with increasing intake. The period-specific associations between low-to-moderate drinking and birth weight, which also were observed for term SGA, are indicative of bias. It is impossible to distinguish if the bias is attributable to unmeasured confounding, which change over time or cohort heterogeneity.

Psychosocial work factors and sick leave risk after a terrorist bomb attack: a survey and registry-based longitudinal study of governmental employees in Norway.

OBJECTIVES: Studies show that social support may reduce the negative psychological effects of terror. The aim was to explore the effects of the psychosocial work environment on sick leave risk among governmental employees after a workplace bomb attack. DESIGN: We linked longitudinal survey data collected at 10 and 22 months after the bombing with registry data on doctor-certified sick leave collected from 42 months before the attack to 33 months after the attack. ORs and rate ratios were estimated with mixed effects hurdle models. SETTING: The bombing of the government ministries in Oslo, Norway, 22 July 2011. PARTICIPANTS: We identified 1625 participants from a cohort of 3520 employees working in the ministries during the bombing in 2011. RESULTS: After adjustment for confounders, social support from coworkers reduced the odds of sick leave (OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.68 to 0.93), and there was marginal evidence for reduced odds with support from superior (OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.87 to 1.03). A social work climate, an innovative climate and a human resource primacy climate (HRP) reduced the sick leave risk (eg, HRP OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.66 to 0.90). The hurdle model found no associations between psychosocial support at work and the duration of sick leave. CONCLUSIONS: Psychosocial support at work can enhance employees' work ability after terror and reduce the sick leave risk by more than 20%. However, a supportive psychosocial work environment did not reduce the duration of sickness absence. The protective role of psychosocial work factors on sick leave may be most significant when employees are at work and interact with their work environment.

Post-traumatic stress reactions and doctor-certified sick leave after a workplace terrorist attack: Norwegian cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between the psychosocial work environment and the risk of sick leave among governmental employees with symptom-defined post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a workplace bomb attack. DESIGN: A prospective study on employees who met the symptom criteria for PTSD. Questionnaire data on the psychosocial work environment 10 months after the terrorist attack was linked to registry data on doctor-certified sick leave in the period 12-22 months after the attack. SETTING: The bombing of the government ministries in Oslo, Norway, 22 July 2011. PARTICIPANTS: The study sample consists of 94 Norwegian governmental employees, all with symptom-defined PTSD from the Norwegian version of the PTSD checklist (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Specific) measured 10 months after the attack. RESULTS: After adjustment for sex and severity of PTSD symptoms, predictability at work reduced the odds of sick leave (adjusted OR=0.62, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.98). Sense of control over decisions at work was associated with fewer absence days for employees with sick leave (adjusted rate ratio=0.61, 95% CI 0.38 to 0.98). CONCLUSIONS: Employees with PTSD after workplace terrorism would benefit from control over their workplace conditions and increased predictability to reduce the risk of sick leave. The findings suggest that the work environment can facilitate employees' work ability after stressful events, independent of severity of PTSD symptoms.

Is perceived safety and threat after workplace terrorism linked to employee sick-leave? A registry-based longitudinal study of governmental employees in Norway.

BACKGROUND: A large body of research has shown that terrorism enhances fears and undermines perceived safety in a high proportion of both directly exposed individuals and individuals without any form of direct exposure (i.e. no geographical proximity to an attack). Some studies have further suggested that fear of terrorism may adversely affect health in those without direct exposure and that this may constitute an important public health burden because of the number who are indirectly exposed. Limited studies have investigated threat and safety perception after workplace terrorism and the possible consequences for employee health. OBJECTIVE: To explore whether perceived safety and threat in employees whose workplace was subjected to a terrorist attack are associated with subsequent sick-leave. METHOD: A longitudinal questionnaire survey on governmental employees' perceived safety and threat at work one (T1) and two (T2) years after the 2011 terrorist attack on the Norwegian ministries was linked to registry data on doctor-certified sick-leave for two 9-month periods following T1 and T2 (N = 1703). RESULTS: There was fairly strong evidence (0.004 < p < 0.034) that higher perceived safety was associated with a close to 30% reduction in sick-leave in fully adjusted models which included terror exposure and symptom-based PTSD. There was inconclusive evidence that lower perceived threat was associated with reduced sick-leave in the full models. CONCLUSIONS: Reduced perceived safety in employees following workplace terrorism may have adverse health consequences of public health significance given how prevalent this perception seems to be. The study supports that post-terrorism response plans should include strategies on how to address the potentially large number of individuals suffering ill health after terror even if they were not directly exposed and do not meet criteria for PTSD.

Antecedentes: Una gran cuerpo de investigación ha mostrado que el terrorismo incrementa el miedo y disminuye la percepción de seguridad en gran proporción tanto en individuos directamente expuestos como también en individuos sin ninguna forma de exposición directa (es decir, sin ninguna proximidad geográfica al ataque). Algunos estudios han sugerido que el miedo al terrorismo puede afectar en forma negativa la salud de aquellos sin exposición directa y que esto puede constituir una importante carga en la salud pública, debido al número de personas expuestas indirectamente. Un limitado número de estudios han investigado la percepción de amenaza y seguridad después de terrorismo en el lugar de trabajo y sus posibles consecuencias para la salud de los empleados.Objetivo: Explorar si es que la seguridad y amenaza percibida en empleados en los cuales su lugar de trabajo fue sujeto a un acto terrorista están asociadas con permiso de ausencia por enfermedad.Método: Se conectaron los resultados de un cuestionario longitudinal sobre la seguridad y amenaza percibida en empleados gubernamentales al primer (T1) y segundo (T2) año posterior al ataque terrorista de los ministerios noruegos del año 2011 con los datos registrados de permiso de ausencia por enfermedad certificados por un médico en dos períodos de nueve meses posteriores a T1 y T2 (N=1703)Resultados: Se encontró evidencia bastante fuerte (0.004< p < 0.034) que mayor seguridad percibida se asoció con una reducción cercana al 30 por ciento en permiso por enfermedad en modelos completamente ajustados que incluían exposición al terror y TEPT basado en síntomas. Hubo evidencia poco concluyente de que menos percepción de la amenaza fue asociada con disminución en permiso por enfermedad en los modelos completos.Conclusiones: La percepción reducida de seguridad en empleados posterior a terrorismo en el lugar de trabajo puede tener consecuencias de salud adversas de relevancia para la salud pública, debido a lo prevalente que es esta percepción. Este estudio apoya la tesis de que los planes de respuesta post-terrorista debiesen incluir estrategias sobre cómo lidiar con el número potencialmente grande de personas que sufren problemas de salud después del terror, incluso si no estuvieron expuestos directamente y no cumplen con los criterios para TEPT.